Disclaimer: Good Omens, along with its characters, locations, etc. are the property of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet. If I owned the rights to it, I wouldn't still be desperate to meet the man that I absolutely ADORE: David Tennant.

A/N: This is the one where they become an item. Nothing explicit, just hugs and cuddles and kisses and the likes.

….

Five Times that Crowley Comforts Aziraphale, and One Time that Aziraphale Comforts Crowley

Chapter 6: Everything

….

Fifteen days after the Apocalypse that never was:

It had been roughly two weeks since the near-Apocalypse. Crowley and Aziraphale had taken to spending more and more time together, usually sitting in companionably silence in the bookshop or drinking in Crowley's flat.

Neither was willing to say to the other why they wanted to spend more time together.

Crowley, for his part, felt an insatiable need to be near the angel. Anytime he was by himself for more than a few hours (unless he was sleeping), he started to fluster, shaking and breathing shallowly to the point of a panic attack (even though he didn't need to breathe, and his heartbeat rarely affected him. Only when he was feeling burst of love or loss).

The near-Apocalypse had frightened Crowley to his core. He had never before had to entertain the possibility of never seeing Aziraphale again.

Sure, their relationship had been rough at times. It took Aziraphale centuries to agree to the Arrangement, and even longer for him to grudgingly admit to their friendship. They had their ups and downs, just like any relationship.

Crowley remembered pondering Alpha Centauri, leaving the humans to fend for themselves. And he remembered dismissing the idea as soon as Aziraphale had refused to go with him.

So, Crowley, being intelligent, knew that he had cared about Aziraphale longer than he intended to admit. He knew that he had been entertaining… well… feelings for the angel that weren't entirely made out of friendship material.

Since they almost died, Crowley had seriously attempted to sort out his feeling on Aziraphale. He had thought about telling the angel how he felt, or not telling him anything.

Crowley finally settled to tell his angel nothing, refusing to jeopardize their friendship, which had grown so much stronger since the near-Apocalypse, over his feelings of love.

Yes, Crowley remembered rather vividly what it felt like to love. He remembered being an angel, swimming in the feelings of love and contentment he always felt after making a new star or nebula.

He remembered the adoration he felt for the Almighty before he Fell, despite his feeling on the Great Plan.

But it had been a long time since he felt anything like that. It wasn't that demons were incapable of love, it was just rather difficult for them. Most demons chose to live a malevolent life, refusing to stop anywhere long enough to establish any sort of relationship.

Even the demons that Crowley had known since the Fall refused to take part in anything past a mutual understanding.

Even Crowley had attempted to take part in the ways of the demons around him, attempting to avoid relationships, moving on and changing himself whenever he started to feel attached to a certain place.

But Aziraphale… for all that Crowley was worth… he loved him.

He loved Aziraphale with his whole being, with everything that he was. He loved the angel so fully, so completely, that he felt physically ill if he spent too much time away.

He had forgotten what that felt like.

He had also forgotten what it felt like to be loved. Demons, as previously mentioned, were not the loving sort, and nobody in Heaven cared about the beings of Hell.

Aziraphale had always entertained their friendship, always seeming rather pleased to see Crowley whenever the demon popped up, but Crowley had never allowed himself to get attached. He knew how angels felt about demons, and he flat-out refused to feel love, rejection, and loss again. Not after what he went through with the Fall.

Crowley refused to pick apart the feelings of love that washed over him whenever Aziraphale was around. He could no longer detect feelings of love from others, not since his Fall. But, he wasn't stupid.

He could tell Aziraphale loved him, in a friendship way, at least, by the way the angel acted. When the blond would touch his arm to move him out of the way of a book he wanted, or made an extra cup of cocoa without being prompted.

Yes, Crowley knew that Aziraphale loved him. But he refused to ask in what way. He refused to ruin what they had for something that might be.

….

Aziraphale loved Crowley. There was no doubt in his angelic mind that he loved the demon thoroughly and completely.

Since the near-Apocalypse, Aziraphale felt the need to be around the demon more and more. He entertained possibilities here and there, pondering his feelings for Crowley as seriously as he had been ignoring other things that he felt, that weren't his in origin.

Yes, Aziraphale felt that feeling more frequently now. The feeling that someone nearby was experiencing an emotion very intense, innocent, and passionate. He didn't pay it much mind, working out his feelings for Crowley.

He knew that the demon needed him. That he craved to be around Aziraphale, needed to sense his presence.

Aziraphale wasn't stupid. He knew the near-Apocalypse had done a number on his friend, making him afraid, shy, and vulnerable.

He knew how terrified and heartbroken Crowley had been when the demon thought he had lost his angel.

And Aziraphale knew how he felt about the demon. How, whenever Crowley gave him a small smile or thanked him bashfully, he felt a new tendril of love snake up from his belly and spread through his chest.

Yes, he had it bad. He was hopelessly, irreversibly in love with Crowley.

But he refused to admit it.

Aziraphale refused to endanger what they had because he wanted something a little more.

So, he restricted himself to soft touches here and there, to small kind acts that elicited an embarrassed thanks from his demon.

Oh, how he loved that wily old serpent.

….

It had been nearly three days since Crowley had heard from Aziraphale, and he was definitely beginning to worry. He knew that Heaven and Hell had truly left them alone, that they were, more or less, safe from divine or demonic intervention. But he still let fear and doubt snake into his belly, curling up to clench painfully around his heart.

He had found a note from Aziraphale on the first day of his absence, explaining that he had to go to Heaven for a day to collect his belongings and work out his pay and all of those things.

Crowley had refused to worry for the first day, pushing down all thoughts of Hellfire and discorporation.

On the second day, doubt started to enter Crowley's mind about the safety of his angel. If he lost him…

Crowley drowned his worry in alcohol, flatly denying his traitorous thoughts the option of surfacing. He always felt mildly better when he knew where Aziraphale was, but knowing he was in Heaven was, well, hell.

On the third day, Crowley was in full panic mode. No amount of alcohol had helped, so Crowley was wallowing in intense emotions, kneeling in the middle of Aziraphale's bookshop as if he could summon the angel by sheer force of will.

His mind, once again, decided it was high time to entertain thoughts of Hellfire, of having to live for the rest of, well, forever without his best friend.

Crowley took in a sharp breath, despite not needing it. He felt tears threatening to spill from his eyes and forcefully banished them.

He would not cry! He wasn't sure that Aziraphale was gone. He refused to start weeping like a toddler just because his angel had been gone for three days.

Crowley flopped back to fully sit on the floor, wrapping his long arms around his knees and hugging them to his chest.

He sat like that for four days.

….

Aziraphale knew that time worked differently in Heaven than it did on Earth. He knew that, however long he spent Up There, it would be longer on the planet.

He never, however, thought he would be gone for an entire week.

His meeting with his superiors, or former superiors, had lasted barely fifteen minutes, and it took him less than five to gather his few belongings that were still there.

When he left Heaven, he touched down just in front of his bookshop, using a miracle to make sure that no passerbys would notice. He carefully shifted his belongings into his left hand, reaching to unlock and push open the door with his right.

The sigh that met him was something that would be seared into his brain forever. And in this case, that literally meant forever – until the end of time.

Crowley, his beloved demon, was curled up in an impossibly small ball in the middle of the shop. Aziraphale could see tears in his eyes and on his face, noticing the whimpers and shivers that were wracking Crowley's thin body.

"Crowley…" Aziraphale muttered, scattering his belongings all over a table near the entrance. He hastily closed the door behind him and made his way toward the terrified demon, having a distinct feeling that he knew what was causing him to behave like this.

Crowley hadn't even reacted to the tinkle of the bell over the door. Aziraphale knew that the demon was so far into his thoughts that very little would shake him out of it.

"Crowley…" Aziraphale murmured again, crouching down next to him.

Crowley just gave a rather violent shake, burying his head in his arms.

"My dear…" Aziraphale reached out cautiously, tentative fingers brushing and them gripping Crowley's thin shoulder.

Crowley sniffed, but otherwise he didn't react to the soft touch.

Realizing that the situation required more than just a pat on the shoulder, Aziraphale tipped backward so his was sitting next to Crowley, gathering the redhead in his arms and pressing him into his chest.

He felt the demon unconsciously bury his nose deeper into his shirt, felt his tears soaking the material.

He attempted to exude some soothing magic into Crowley, tightening his grip around the thin shoulders and gently rubbing his back.

"It's alright, dear. Everything is alright." Aziraphale muttered into Crowley's ear. He felt the demon slowly come out of his thoughts, feeling thin arms snake around his waist.

"Zira." Crowley muttered.

Aziraphale had never heard the redhead call him this before but… he liked it. He liked it a lot.

"It's me, Crowley." He whispered.

Crowley's yellow eyes finally cracked open, as bloodshot as was possibly for slitted snake eyes.

"I thought I'd lost you." Crowley breathed into his angel's shirt, where he had firmly buried his face.

"I know, dear." Aziraphale replied. "How long was I gone?"

"A week. I thought… Hellfire." Crowley explained, an exhausted look ghosting over his face.

"I'm so sorry, Crowley. I had no idea it had been so long. It felt like only a half hour for me." Aziraphale allowed himself the pleasure of a soft kiss to Crowley's red hair. "I'm sorry you went through that."

Crowley nuzzled further into his chest, allowing Aziraphale to hold and comfort him.

"Actually…" Aziraphale started to say. Crowley hummed when the angel's chest vibrated against his cheek. "I'm sorry for everything, Crowley." He paused. "I'm sorry for being so rude to you for all those years, for refusing to call you a friend even though you were the only one I had. I'm sorry for always believing the worst in you, even though you proved to me time and time again that you weren't a normal demon, that you weren't all bad.

"I'm sorry for believing in Heaven more than you, even though you had proven to be more trustworthy. I'm sorry for saying I didn't like you, and for making you believe that I was dead." At this point, Crowley had tried to shush Aziraphale, but the angel refused to be deterred.

"I'm so sorry for everything, Crowley. I always took you for granted. I always believed you would be there to help me, even though I always treated you like the enemy. I was cruel to you, acting like you were an inconvenience rather than a companion. I treated you like another run-of-the-mill demon, all because I couldn't work out my feelings for you. For so many years, I refused to accept you as a friend. I was always happy to see you; I was scared that you were going to harm yourself with that holy water… but I never counted you as a friend. I refused to entertain the possibility.

"Then, the Apocalypse happened, or almost happened, and I thought I was going to lose you forever. I thought I would never see my best friend again. And it hurt. It felt like nothing I had ever felt before. Angels are beings of love, and I still had never felt an emotion as intense as the one I felt when the ground started to rumble under our feet.

"And I've still, after everything that's happened, I've still refused to admit anything to you. I have let you continue to believe that you a friend, but nothing more. But Crowley…" Aziraphale paused to look into his demon's eyes. "I love you. I love you so much that I didn't know how to process it. I shut down and shunned you instead of letting my feeling show. I was so bloody terrified that I was going to lose you if I ever admitted that, I shut myself down and allowed us to go back to our usual routine.

"I love you, Crowley. I love you with everything that I am. Every fiber of my being is screaming from the rooftops that you are the only person I love like this. I…" he trained off as Crowley put a finger to his lips, effectively shushing him.

Crowley straightened from where he had still been curled up against Aziraphale's chest, looking deep into the angel's eyes.

And that's when it clicked for Aziraphale. He finally realized what that Feeling as that he kept experiencing, and why he only felt it in the presence of Crowley.

He was sensing Crowley's love.

He was sensing the demon's raw emotion, his unhindered adoration.

And then Crowley was leaning forward and kissing Aziraphale, making the angel gasp at the unhidden, natural, pure love that was apparent in every millimeter of contact between their lips.

Aziraphale had never felt so open, so loved, in his entire existence.

Crowley pulled back before Aziraphale got past the shock of all the emotions that were coursing through his body, leaning forward so their foreheads were pressed together.

"I love you too, Aziraphale."